The present invention relates to means of transport, and more particularly, to a semi-trailer which is drawn by a tractor.
In the field of vehicle transportation, a type of vehicle knows as a semi-trailer, which has wheels on the bottom of its rear end and has a kingpin on its front end, is hitched to a truck tractor with its kingpin engaged into the fifth wheel of the truck tractor. The most simple and commonly used semi-trailer is the flatbed semi-trailer (i.e., without the top assembly). Along with the development of the needs of users and the cargo form of transportation, semi-trailers having corresponding top assemblies secured on their flatbed are turned out, and have evolved into various kinds of semi-trailers with secured carriages, such as semi-trailers with hard body carriages and semi-trailers with soft body carriages.
The currently used carriage semi-trailer, of which the top assembly is irremovably secured to the chassis assembly, is unitary in its structure and lacks flexibility. Since the original carriage is secured, users must purchase another semi-trailer with a different kind of top assembly when they want to adopt another kind of top assembly. In addition, due to the secured top assembly, the common semi-trailer is very bulky; for users crossing a long distance during delivery of semi-trailer products, the transportation fees will consume a big proportion of the whole cost of those products.
The aim of the present invention is to provide a combinable and removable semi-trailer, which has the function of a convenient and quickly combinable carriage; it is convenient and flexible for use, and lowers the cost for transportation fees during product delivery.
To realize the above object, the present invention may be made according to embodiments of the present invention.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, a combinable and removable semi-trailer comprises a semi-trailer chassis assembly, a rear frame assembly, a front wall assembly, side wall assemblies and a roof assembly. The present invention is characterized in that, the semi-trailer chassis assembly can be combinably and removably jointed to the rear, front and the side wall assemblies; the roof assembly can be combinably and removably jointed to the rear, front and the side wall assemblies; and said side wall assemblies can be combinably and removably jointed to the rear frame assembly and the font wall assembly.
In another embodiment of the present invention, the semi-trailer chassis assembly is connected to the rear frame assembly and the front wall assembly with screw connectors. In addition, the roof assembly is connected to the rear frame assembly and the front wall assembly with screw connectors.
An embodiment of the semi-trailer, may also have a threshold installed on the bottom side of the rear frame assembly, and a front bottom beam installed on the bottom side of the front wall assembly; a fixing means installed respectively on the front and rear ends of the chassis assembly, where the fixing means has a U-shape sectional inner space. The threshold and front bottom beam may match with the inner space of said fixing means in dimension; the inner space of the fixing means holds the threshold and front bottom beam to fix the rear and front wall assemblies, so as to achieve a connection of the chassis assembly with the rear and front wall assembly.
Other embodiments of the semi-trailer may have the fixing means further connected to the threshold and the front bottom beam with screw connectors. The semi-trailer may have a fixing board installed on the top beams of the rear and front wall assemblies respectively, the two ends of the roof assembly placed directly onto the fixing boards, and the roof assembly connected to the front and rear frame assemblies with connectors.
In addition, a further embodiment of the invention is characterized in that the connectors connecting the roof assembly with said front and rear frame assemblies comprise water proof rubber spacers, which are installed respectively between said roof assembly and the fixing boards of said front and rear frame assemblies; screw connectors; and plate spacers, which are placed between the screw connectors and the waterproof rubber spacers; wherein the close connection of the roof assembly with the front and rear frame assemblies is achieved through the way the water proof rubber spacers, plate spacers and screw connectors are coordinated.
Another embodiment of the semi-trailer, has the side wall assemblies made of a soft body structure. In addition, the side wall assemblies may be made of a hard body structure.
According to another embodiment of the semi-trailer, pulleys are installed on the top of the side wall assemblies; on two sides of the roof assembly are installed tracks matching with the pulleys, and by the coordination of the pulleys and the tracks, the side wall assemblies are slidingly connected with the roof assembly. Further, the semi-trailer, may have rope rails installed on the bottom of the two sides of the chassis assembly; several belts which can be tightened up are installed on the bottom side of the side wall assemblies; on the bottom ends of the belts are installed belt hooks corresponding with the rope rails, whereby during operation, they are used for quickly tightening up the side wall assemblies; and the connection of the side wall assemblies with the chassis assembly is realized by way of the coordination of the rope rails and belts.
The semi-trailer may have hooks installed respectively on the rear ends of the side wall assemblies. Bending hanging boards matching with the hooks are installed on two sides of the rear frame assembly. The side wall assemblies are connected with the rear frame assembly by way of hanging the hooks on the hanging boards.
The semi-trailer may have self-locking tensioners installed on the two sides of the front wall assembly; the side wall assemblies are connected with the front wall assembly by way of winding the front ends of the side wall assemblies around the self-locking tensioners.
The semi-trailer may have the side wall assemblies connected to the chassis, rear, front and roof assemblies with screw connectors. In another embodiment, the semi-trailer may have onwards protruding bottom side beams installed on the two sides of the chassis assembly; a bottom beam installed respectively on the bottom sides of the side wall assemblies, the bottom beam having a downwards opening forming a U-shape sectional inner space, which matches with the bottom side beam in dimension, the two parts are coupled with each other and form a concave-convex coupling, so as to achieve the connection of the side wall assemblies with the chassis assembly.
In yet another embodiment the semi-trailer has a further connection achieved at the convex swelling of the concave-convex coupling with screw connectors. The semi-trailer may have the roof assembly connected to the side wall assemblies with concave-convex coupling. The semi-trailer may also comprise a corner pole installed respectively on both sides of the front wall assembly and rear frame assembly, for the use of connecting the rear and front wall assemblies with the side wall assemblies.
In a further embodiment of the semi-trailer, water proof rubber spacers and plate spacers are further installed on the connecting point of the side wall assemblies with the rear and front wall assemblies. The water proof rubber spacers, plate spacers and side wall assemblies are pressed closely onto the corner poles of both sides of the rear and front wall assemblies with screw connectors so as to realize the connection of the side wall assemblies with the rear and front wall assemblies.
According to other embodiments of the present invention, the screw connectors are threaded bolts, bars or nails. In another embodiment of the present invention, the side wall assemblies of the top assembly (front, rear, side and roof assemblies) are of soft body structure, while the front, rear and roof assemblies are of hard body structure. Alternatively, the front, rear and roof assemblies may be of a composite structure made up of hard material frames and soft material coverings; the soft body structure may be made up of a soft material such as canvas, or a composite material of fiber and rubber.
In another embodiment of the present invention, the top assembly is of a hard body structure where all assemblies are made of hard materials, which may be selected from steel, aluminum and composite materials.
According to one aspect of the present invention, by the way of the combinable and removable connection between the chassis assembly and each part of the top assemblies, an identical chassis assembly may be combined with semi-trailers of different specifications and forms. This makes it convenient to satisfy the needs of transportation and reduce the cost.
According to another aspect of the present invention, different ways of connection are provided according to the concrete materials used in soft body and hard body semi-trailers, enabling the assembly and combination of a semi-trailer to be easily implemented, while the tightness and stability of the connection are, also taken into consideration.
These and other embodiments of the present invention are further made apparent, in the remainder of the present document, to those of ordinary skill in the art.